johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:30 pm
Here's the thing with TNT: like USA, it's been hemorrhaging viewers for years now. It relies so much on reruns that it's losing viewership and subscribers at rates even faster than cable as a whole. I have to think that's part of the reason why the NBA is willing to move on from them. The days of them drawing a million viewers to an AAF game were five years ago now. TNT and USA have descended into "zombie" or "ghost" status, those networks you can get for free either over-the-air or online that carry nothing but reruns. (See also MTV and its endless reruns of Ridiculousness.)
ESPN at least is still a sports destination. And FX, as much heat as it took last year, still has a slate of originals (and unlike most other conglomerates, Disney is content hedging itself by making its content available both on cable and on its streaming outlets, where possible).
Not all basic cable is made alike.
Sorry but the NYT article is behind a paywall for me.
I would image that TNT/TBS is looking to sports like all cable channels to retain its cable rights fees. About a year ago TNT and ESPN both about 72-71mm subscribers. WB-D isn't giving up on its hall mark channel. Big media has collectively screwed themselves these last 10-15+ years but sports is still king. WB-D will looking towards sports like all major media. For cable only WB-D (ie no Broadcast) TNT is thei flagship. Consolidation is always lurking too of course.
So as of right now, TNT is still a major player.
As a viewer, I can see one advantage to the TNT/FX/USA-sized networks airing some of the games: the UFL is a small fish in the big pond of the ESPN/Fox networks. That means that anything of greater significance to a perceived larger audience (tennis, golf, Indy car races, spelling bees, etc.) can push us into the land of "for those of you tuning in for today's UFL matchup, it is currently airing on the Ocho until one of our contestants can successfully spell 'charcuterie.'"
I am a YouTube TV subscriber so the channels are all in my plan, but it is a hassle to change channels in their web interface and the DVR doesn't pick up the diversion at all, so we can miss segments of the games.
FX isn't going to preempt the UFL game because the Remington Steele marathon went into overtime.
steve42 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:17 pm
As a viewer, I can see one advantage to the TNT/FX/USA-sized networks airing some of the games: the UFL is a small fish in the big pond of the ESPN/Fox networks. That means that anything of greater significance to a perceived larger audience (tennis, golf, Indy car races, spelling bees, etc.) can push us into the land of "for those of you tuning in for today's UFL matchup, it is currently airing on the Ocho until one of our contestants can successfully spell 'charcuterie.'"
I am a YouTube TV subscriber so the channels are all in my plan, but it is a hassle to change channels in their web interface and the DVR doesn't pick up the diversion at all, so we can miss segments of the games.
FX isn't going to preempt the UFL game because the Remington Steele marathon went into overtime.
And guess what, with FX and USA (other than WWE for the latter), it's still small fish even if they're the top-rated show. You didn't see the XFL prosper from half the season being FX-dominant did you? I didn't, that's why I changed my tune on season dates.
No need to get into Reddit-level junk histrionics, that's live programming. The MICH/BIR prematch in week 10, which was moved for Caitlin Clark/Angel Reese I and clipped at the beginning (also causing overlap with SA/StL) still got 753,000 viewers. But do tell me how 400,000 viewers on FX, which hadn't televised football in the Disney era, or 300K on USA is somehow more beneficial to the league going forward. Should we trade in FOX for CW too?
steve42 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:17 pm
As a viewer, I can see one advantage to the TNT/FX/USA-sized networks airing some of the games: the UFL is a small fish in the big pond of the ESPN/Fox networks. That means that anything of greater significance to a perceived larger audience (tennis, golf, Indy car races, spelling bees, etc.) can push us into the land of "for those of you tuning in for today's UFL matchup, it is currently airing on the Ocho until one of our contestants can successfully spell 'charcuterie.'"
I am a YouTube TV subscriber so the channels are all in my plan, but it is a hassle to change channels in their web interface and the DVR doesn't pick up the diversion at all, so we can miss segments of the games.
FX isn't going to preempt the UFL game because the Remington Steele marathon went into overtime.
Well TNT is WB-D's flaship channel, cable or not. So they will protect it with content. FX isn't TNT and even FX (XFL avg 429k in standalone games) did better than 2023 USFL's FS1 and USA (294k and 233k respectively). With a game weekly same time TNT can get within 10% (+/-) ESPN IMO.
The advantage to the UFL is a relative lucrative paying media rights deal. I don't see WBD involved sans that as posted earlier in the thread. It will not decrease the number of games on broadcast from 2025, as it will require expansion. Other benefits is having another place to find UFL content for viewers; along with another network promoting UFL. But the driver here is paying rights deal.